Othello's Fault

Othello is the one to blame for all that has happened to him. He was too trusting and passionate. He could not keep a calm mind and reason things out. Othello reveals himself as a brash person when he says “‘Tis he! O brave Iago, honest and just, / That hast such noble sense of thy friend’s wrong! / Thou teachest me. — Minion, your dear lies dead, / And your unblest fate hies. Strumpet, I come” (5.1.34-37). Othello hears Cassio’s cries and praises Iago for exacting revenge. He then proceeds to go after his wife in a rage inspired by Iago’s actions. He was overly passionate in killing his supposed traitor of a wife. What could possibly stop him, a general, from killing his wife later in a more just manner. If he was justified in his attempts, he would not have to rush the murder of Desdemona. The fact that he rushed to kill his wife shows that it was his fault for Desdemona’s death. He completely trusted Iago and acted without confirming Cassio’s death nor Desdemona’s betrayal. He could have easily proven Desdemona’s innocence since she was a virgin. However in his zeal he decides to off his wife with no regard of the previous emotions and trust he felt for her. This action shows us that Othello is to blame for his tragedy. Sure, Iago has a large part in Othello’s actions, but normal people are not so rushed in their attempts to kill their newlywed wife. If Othello were a normal person, he would see that there is no way Desdemona would get bored of him so fast and cheat after leaving her entire world for him. Othello casts away what he knows about Desdemona’s innocence because of small suspicions and faulty evidence. Othello is not just a victim of the tragedy he is also, in part, the antagonist.

I chose this picture because it reminds me of Iago. Othello is to blame for a majority of the events that occurred in his tragedy. However, none of it would be possible were it not for the deceptive Iago. It took Iago’s ability to lie to others for the entire plan to work. His deceptive nature is shown when Iago says “Thus do i ever make my fool my purse” (1.3.426). This shows that Iago has fooled Roderigo into thinking that he is helping. Iago has to manage many different “masks” so that he can convince everyone else to work for him. He convinces Cassio to drink, Roderigo to irritate Cassio, and Othello to murder Desdemona. This picture reminds me of him because the man in the picture is holding two masks. These masks represent the different personalities Iago must take to control others and hide his true self. The man in the picture has masks that he switches out. These masks are symbolic of how a person can change themselves, if needed, to fool others. The mask disguises the person so that others cannot see his intentions. Just like the man with the masks, Iago changes his character so that no one can see his intentions. Iago manages to fool everyone, including his wife, into thinking that he his there for their benefit. Othello’s gullible character would not have been such a problem were it not for the existence of Iago. Iago was the mastermind that brought Othello’s world crashing down on him. The ending of the story is equally Iago’s fault as it is Othello’s.

Othello and Odysseus are both war heroes in their stories that have overcome many obstacles and have many stories to tell. The difference between these war heroes is that Odysseus is a trickster of sorts while Othello appears to be the one getting tricked. Othello’s foolishness is shown by Emilia when she says “O thou dull Moor, that handkerchief thou speak’st / of / I found by fortune, and did give my husband” (5.2.267-269). At the end of the play Emilia shows Othello how much of a fool he is by showing him how the proof Iago presented was fabricated. This shows that Othello is easily tricked and that he leads himself into disaster through his gullible nature. Odysseus contrasts Othello in this regard because Odysseus is portrayed as the trickster and not the fool. Othello says “my story will tell you all you need to know. / There is a land called Crete” (Odyssey 396) . This passage shows that Odysseus lies even when he does not have to just in case some one was looking for him. Odysseus manages to find his way out of many situations through deceit. He is also portrayed as a very doubtful person. He lies to everyone to cover his own identity in case anyone was plotting against him. Othello confronts his problems head on while Odysseus find shortcuts through his. Both these characters are war heroes, tell stories to entertain people, and lead armies, but Odysseus appears to be much more intelligent in his endeavors while Othello is always being played. Odysseus’s “trust no one” attitude completely contrasts with Othello’s assumption that everyone around him is trustworthy. Odysseus and Othello have similar roles but they could not be more different in character. This major difference could be why Othello dies in his story surrounded by tragedy while Odysseus gets his happily ever after.

Othello is shown time and time again as a very trusting person. This is in part because he does not wish to see the evil in people. This characteristic is shown when Othello says “I swear ’tis better to be much abused / Than but to know ‘t a little” (3.3.386-387). This shows us that Othello would rather be deceived than to be suspicious of other people. His trusting character allows Iago to manipulate Othello easily because he can plant suspicion without being accused. The small hints Iago provides Othello that there is something between Desdemona and Cassio slowly lead Othello to the conclusion that he is being cheated on. All of this happens but Othello never questions the source of this information. The only reason Othello does not believe Desdemona later on is because he is already accepted the “facts” that Iago has presented. His inability to doubt people lead him to trust the wrong person with ill intentions. He himself admits that he would rather be lied to than to doubt someone he trusts. This includes Desdemona but Desdemona does not get a chance to convince him otherwise before he decides her fate. This passage is significant because it furthers our understanding of what kind of person Othello is. Iago has said multiple times that Othello is a fool, but this passage shows Othello admitting he is a fool. Othello’s character is the source of most of these problems because it only took Iago a short amount of time to convince him that his two most trusted people, Desdemona and Cassio, are betraying him. While he refuses to see this “betrayal”, he does not immediately cast away Iago either. He believed that Iago could be telling the truth because he does not think that anyone would lie to him. This allows Iago to not only plant the doubt in Othello, it also allows the doubt to turn into a murderous rage.

This picture resonates with Othello because it shows Thor who is similar to Othello in that they both get tricked by someone who they trust. Othello is depicted as gullible by Iago when he says “The Moor is of a free and open nature / That thinks men honest but seem to be so / And will as tenderly be led by th’ nose / As asses are”(1.3.442-445) Iago describes Othello as a trusting person and that he can be easily led astray. This shows similarity to the characters in the picture because Thor trusts Loki so much that his betrayal catches him completely off guard even after he is tricked multiple times before. Othello and Thor are very similar in their trusting nature and they both are leaders in war. Othello is so blind to the plots of others that he is easily ensnared by Iago. Iago is able to manipulate Othello by slowly planting ideas in his head about his wife and Cassio. The relationship between Othello and Iago reminded me of the relationship between Thor and Loki as shown in the top picture. The two are close for a large part of their stories but then nearing the end the villainy of Loki and Iago are revealed to the protagonists of their respective stories. This picture also shows similarities to the picture of Othello and Iago as shown on the bottom picture. Both Othello and Thor look angry while Iago and Loki appear to be suspicious and plotting. These characters are very similar but their end results are quite different. In Thor, none of the main characters die in the end, while in Othello, pretty much everyone dies. Iago’s form of deceit took the form of mostly manipulating others around Othello, while Loki directly manipulated Thor. These pictures seem very similar, which leads me to wonder if the director for Thor planned to make it look the same. 

Othello and King Shahrayar, from The Arabian Nights, are very similar in their brash decisions. The King was cheated on by his wife and as a result he killed his wife and many wives after that. Othello believed that his wife cheated on him and as a result he kills his wife as shown by Othello when he says “Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men” (5.2.6). Both of these men were driven to violence by the thought of their unfaithful wives. They both decided that murdering their wives was the best course of action after being cheated on. While they are similar in this sense, the King had actually caught his wife in the act of cheating. Othello merely suspected his wife with no solid proof. The King was not as gullible as Othello, who fell for Iago’s tricks and lies. Othello was slowly convinced that his innocent wife was guilty of sleeping with Cassio. The King was immediately shown that his guilty wife wasn’t innocent. While the King and Othello are similar in their reactions and felt the same betrayals, Othello acts brashly for the little amount of proof that he was shown. Othello only had a handkerchief and vague murmurs from Cassio to make his judgment. Othello’s character is very emotional and he acts without considering that he could be wrong. His logic was clouded by his emotions of love for Desdemona and the hate caused by suspicions of betrayal. King Shahrayar’s logic also became clouded by emotions after his wife cheated on him. His rage led him to kill his wife and decree that no woman would ever be faithful. The King then proceeded to marry and kill many women under his rule to avoid being betrayed. Both these characters lose their ability to reason after facing betrayal, however only Othello has acted based on lies.

One major difference between the film and the original play written by Shakespeare is the presence of a sex scene between Othello and Desdemona. This particular scene in the film causes a change in the original story. The original plays shows Othello saying “… you chaste stars. / It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood”(5.2.2-3). This shows us that the method that Othello picks to kill Desdemona is very careful not to bloody the sheets. He believes that Desdemona was unfaithful and that blood on the sheets would be symbolic of her innocence. The sex scene gets rid of the importance of Desdemona trying to prove her innocence at the end. She can no longer prove her innocence by losing her virginity, which is an important part of the original play. While this scene separates itself from the original, other scenes in the movie serve to further points made in the book. A scene like Othello imagining Desdemona with Cassio helps show us his increasing suspicion and descent into a jealous rage. While this scene is not apart of the original story, like the sex scene, it serves to further the points made in the original play, as opposed to the sex scene that changes the play. The scene of Othello and Desdemona’s consummation of marriage gets rid of Desdemona’s attempt to prove her innocence as well as Othello’s unwillingness to spill her blood on the sheets. This takes away from the symbolic nature of the wedding sheets and the method of murder. The attempts to fit the play into a two hour movie, disposes of a lot of the original story in exchange for more visually pleasing scenes.

In Act 1 Scene 1 lines 74-80 of Othello, Iago says “Call up her father. / Rouse him. Make after him, poison his delight, / Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsman, / And though he in a fertile climate dwell, / Plague him with flies. Though that his joy be joy, / Yet throw such chances of vexation on ‘t / As it may lose some color.” This passage is hard to paraphrase because Iago has a dramatic way of saying tell Brabantio about Othello’s relationship with Desdemona. I take “poison his delight” to mean Iago wishes to make Brabantio go into a foul mood. “Proclaim him in the streets” would serve to notify everyone of what happened in Brabantio’s house and further anger Brabantio. Iago wishes to drive Brabantio into a murderous rage and send him towards Othello. Iago shows that he wishes harm upon Othello and instead of doing it himself, he sends a senator and the senator’s kinsmen after Othello. This passage shows that Iago is manipulative and enjoys the theatrics of exacting revenge on Othello. As a result of Iago’s theatrics, the passage becomes hard to paraphrase completely while the gist of it is still present. This passage is significant to the play because is shows that Iago is an important part of the story. Iago can be assumed to be a mastermind of most the troubles that Othello will have to face. This passage shows that Iago plots to ruin Othello just because he did not receive a promotion he thought he deserved. This pettiness hints that Iago will become a sort of villain in this play. When I first read this passage, it led me to assume that Iago would be the antagonist of the play, more so than Rodrigo (who had a stronger reason for wanting to ruin Othello). This passage is important because it introduces the villain and provides insight of the villain’s motivations and characteristics.